tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post4445273351339764208..comments2019-08-16T15:51:04.603-04:00Comments on Exfanding Your Horizons: The Art of the TutorialFlashman85http://www.blogger.com/profile/05803594092301739957noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-5307961809198638252012-04-26T20:51:57.499-04:002012-04-26T20:51:57.499-04:00Well I didn&#39;t go STRAIGHT to the fair, but whe...Well I didn&#39;t go STRAIGHT to the fair, but when I ventured out into the world beyond that little town I ended up the the Guardia forest and there were monsters and bad things so I went to the fair where there was a significantly smaller number of things trying to kill my one person.<br /><br />I just finished another 3 hour session with the game, but I saved at the End of Time so I can go back to 1000 AD and take a look there. Thanks for the help :)JoeReviewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01809855503461399655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-45627850469005468052012-04-26T15:30:40.407-04:002012-04-26T15:30:40.407-04:00Catie: Still haven&#39;t gotten around to watching...Catie: Still haven&#39;t gotten around to watching it! But I&#39;ll see about changing that at some point.<br /><br />Matt: Agreed, especially about X6. Regarding X5, you don&#39;t get to the fifth installment of a spinoff series unless people already understand how to play the game--while a tutorial option never hurts, in-game chatter really is just silly.<br /><br />Joe: Wow, you must&#39;ve jumped straight to the fair at the very beginning of the game. While in 1000 AD, roam around and visit each of the houses from the overworld screen, including the ones on the other side of the bridge to the south. Eventually you&#39;ll come across the tutorial building I&#39;m talking about.Flashman85https://www.blogger.com/profile/05803594092301739957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-22489046355242904592012-04-26T15:02:26.583-04:002012-04-26T15:02:26.583-04:00Another comment because my account didn&#39;t conn...Another comment because my account didn&#39;t connect to email me...JoeReviewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01809855503461399655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-26421492695599985502012-04-26T15:01:44.244-04:002012-04-26T15:01:44.244-04:00WHERE IS THIS BUILDING YOU SPEAK OF?
Or, giving t...WHERE IS THIS BUILDING YOU SPEAK OF?<br /><br />Or, giving that this is Chrono Trigger and all, perhaps I should ask when it is. I&#39;m trying to keep my experience of the game unspoilered as possible, so if you could tell me in the least detail possible, that&#39;d be great :P<br /><br />If it helps, I just got my super robot friend, so that&#39;s where I am in the story :)JoeReviewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01809855503461399655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-22668807881875827012012-02-28T11:07:59.237-05:002012-02-28T11:07:59.237-05:00I&#39;ll second the other two on Egoraptor&#39;s t...I&#39;ll second the other two on Egoraptor&#39;s take on Mega Man X. :)<br /><br />Also, I agree with your stance on pulling feedback from the two testing angles.<br /><br />Staying in the same series while flipping the coin, I really want to point out how Mega Man X5 is a perfect example of how NOT to pull off an in-game tutorial. <br /><br />In addition to the separate optional tutorial you can access from the main menu screen (which admittedly, is a great way for new gamers to learn if they need it), in the actual game, you&#39;ve got Alia constantly interrupting the stage without choice and stopping the gameplay to point out something like &quot;Don&#39;t jump on the spikes! They hurts your extra lives!&quot; and &quot;Shoot that funny looking wall, I think there&#39;s something behind it!&quot;. For me, this kills the flow of the fast-paced gameplay and ruins the chance for players to figure out things for themselves if they so choose. That sense of accomplishment is gone for the most part.<br /><br />Now it would be one thing if X5 was the first game to be made on the Playstation and new gamers who may not have access to the earlier SNES titles were introduced to the X series for the first time, but the fact that X4 came out on the PS before it and was still fairly accessible for several years before X5 even existed, having to force the player to sit through constant interruptions like the ones I pointed out comes across more like an insult to the player&#39;s intelligence. Of course, there would still be those that hadn&#39;t played X4 beforehand, which is fine, but since that game did just fine without any sort of in-game stop/start hints while X5 made that mandatory, you still get the feeling that something&#39;s off on the decision for the tutorial&#39;s inclusion and execution.<br /><br />It&#39;s truly a shame too because had the tutorial not got in the way of the gameplay so much, I probably would have rated X5 much higher in my book. The game itself was a lot of fun and it had a satisfying story conclusion to cap the series. Capcom had the chance to fix the mandatory interruptions with the Mega Man X Collection, but alas, it wasn&#39;t so... X6, while it had its fair share of problems, figured out how to implement the hints into the game without making the player halt (for the most part). If they needed the hints, they were still there, and it gave those that didn&#39;t need them a chance to teach themselves how to get through the games perilous and often unforgiving obstacles, for better or for worse.<br /><br />What do you think?Matt Linkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09890521244480551527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-59150920377691344522012-02-27T22:36:20.593-05:002012-02-27T22:36:20.593-05:00Here I decided to comment with the sole purpose of...Here I decided to comment with the sole purpose of linking to Egoraptor&#39;s take on Mega Man X&#39;s &quot;f-ing genius&quot; intro level. Mr. E already mentioned it, but here&#39;s the link anyway: http://youtu.be/8FpigqfcvlMCatiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10655785056531272515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-18994063411187080432012-02-27T14:23:54.249-05:002012-02-27T14:23:54.249-05:00Thanks, both. :)
Mr. E: All you really need to k...Thanks, both. :)<br /><br />Mr. E: All you really need to know about Mega Man you can find on the controller pretty quickly. I like what MM10 does at the character select screen, showing abilities such as sliding and charging up so that you know they&#39;re available, even if the buttons to press aren&#39;t explained. Good point about the demo, though.<br /><br />I have so much difficulty with fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter. Heck, I could barely play as Sabin in FFVI.<br /><br />TMNTgrl25: RPGs are almost certainly the worst offenders of them all where unpleasant tutorials are concerned. It&#39;s amazing--there were barely any explanations in the early years of gaming, and yet we managed how to figure things out anyhow...Flashman85https://www.blogger.com/profile/05803594092301739957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-47445266834331926452012-02-27T13:31:09.487-05:002012-02-27T13:31:09.487-05:00Ah...indeed the common misconceptions...
Gamers ce...Ah...indeed the common misconceptions...<br />Gamers certainly do NOT have the patience for tutorials of any length *glances at the 3-hour introduction of Kingdom Hearts 2* and certainly do not enjoy loud, frequent interruptions from other characters *glances at Navi and Alia*<br />In trying to think of a good tutorial, the first thing that comes to mind is Legend of Legaia, an old PS1 RPG that I...never actually beat. The game gives you a tutorial for the battle system- a single, short, mandatory battle that teaches you how to enter commands and how to use items, and that&#39;s about all you need to know. The game makes you figure the rest out for yourself, such as how to use your summons/what each one does, and other various stuff. It&#39;s unobtrusive, but gives you enough info to send you on your way.<br />Good choice for an article. Something a lot of gamers whine and complain about, after all. ;)TMNTgrl25noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375462896069663031.post-38789806891988661652012-02-27T12:36:50.660-05:002012-02-27T12:36:50.660-05:00I agree, some tutorials can be boring or extremely...I agree, some tutorials can be boring or extremely long, or unhelpful (or all three), but yes, tutorials pretty much <i>have</i> to be in any game.<br /><br />The <i>Mega Man</i> franchise is, for the most part, different, as it doesn&#39;t <i>exactly</i> offer a tutorial. With the release of <i>Mega Man X</i>, we had an opening stage, which a famous animator known as Egoraptor described as &quot;f***ing genius&quot;, and went on to explain how it taught the player how to play in great detail. Of course, we have the &quot;Weapon Get!&quot; screen, where it shows the player what the new weapon does (since <i>Mega Man 6</i>, I believe), and that&#39;s nice. With the earlier games, though, we&#39;re flung into a big screen with flashing light, music, and <i>six/eight</i> bosses and levels, and that&#39;s not even scratching the surface of the Castle stages.<br /><br />I like a game that shows me what I have to do, and has a control scheme which means that I don&#39;t give myself Carpal Tunnel Syndrome trying to figure how to punch air. With games like <i>Tekken</i> and <i>Street Fighter</i>, most people will probably remember the old arcade machines, which displayed demos of testers punching other testers. Games such as <i>Super Mario Galaxy</i> and most <i>Zelda</i> games have text boxes which give hints on what to do, and sometimes downright tell you.<br /><br /><i>Mega Man</i>, however, is different from the others. If you leave it on the title screen, the intro simply plays over again. If you wait for a text box to appear telling you what do, you&#39;ll be waiting forever. The games manage to provide a good learning curve, suggesting which bosses to go to first, and which ones to save for when you&#39;ve got a weapon that can obliterate them (like how sad and pathetic Solar Man becomes when you give him Water Shield to play with), so some players argue that they don&#39;t need explicit details on how to move. I, for one, would be okay if a new <i>Mega Man</i> game offered the option to view a short animation, showing them how to play.<br /><br />Nevertheless, good post. :)Mr. Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01479367480121846534noreply@blogger.com